Come Children
by estrellaSMC
Summary: Another ‘what if someone else won the last ticket?’ story. Only this time, it’s not a 16 plus year old girl, and there’s no romance. Andreas is a foster child who dreams of having a family. Will his dreams ever be realized? Or will they come to nothing?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own ****Charlie and the Chocolate Factory**** or any characters found therein. So anybody you recognize from said book and movie all belong to Roald Dahl.**

**I also wanted to say that I did take some scenes and dialogue from the THOROUGHBRED books at one point in the story. I modified it slightly so it would fit my story, but if you know what to look for you'll see it. Yet another thing I don't own.**

**I only own Andreas (a.k.a Andrew later on in the story), Sofia Argyris, the people in Andreas's foster family who he is living with at the beginning of the story (you'll see the reason for this specification later on in the fic. If I said now, it would give away a piece of the story) and his biological family.**

**I named this story what I did because of the Christafari song by the same title. The lyrics of the song are posted on my profile if anybody wants to see them.**

**One day I was just idlely letting my mind drift and suddenly I thought about the father of a friend of mine. "I wonder what would have happened if **_**he**_** had won the ticket?" I thought to myself. And this story was born. I had to embellish a lot on the few facts that I knew about my friend's father. I also had to change the times in which he lived. So much so that I consider him to be almost fully my own creation. Only a very few things actually came from the story my friend told me about his father that inspired this story. Everything else I made up. I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

RING!

The bell of ten year old Andreas Kostakis' school rang, and he got up, along with his classmates. This had been their final class for the day.

Andreas picked up his notebook and text book and quickly shoved them into his satchel before slinging it over his shoulder and heading for the door.

"Andreas?" he heard his teacher say.

"Yes, Ms. Argyris?" he asked, turning to face her.

"Could I see you after the others are gone?" Ms. Argyris asked.

Andreas nodded, and then wondered what was going on. Once the room was clear, Andreas made his way over to Ms. Argyris' desk. "Is something wrong?" he asked, brown eyes showing his worry.

Ms. Argyris smiled, "No," she said, "Absolutely not. It's just that…you know about the Golden Ticket contest?"

"Yeah," Andreas said. "Who doesn't know about it?"

"How would you like to find one of those tickets, Andreas?" Ms. Argyris asked, leaning forwards, her voice dropping to a whisper.

Andreas leaned closer too, "That would be the most incredible thing," he whispered. "I have wanted to get a ticket almost as much as I have wanted to leave my foster home and have a real family again."

Ms. Argyris smiled and sat back. "I thought so," she said. Andreas sat back too, feeling puzzled. Ms. Argyris picked up her pocketbook and began digging in it. "This afternoon during recess I went over to that candy store next to the school and I bought a Wonka Bar. This was in it." With that, she pulled something out. The ceiling lights caught it and Andreas saw a bright flash of gold. Ms. Argyris set it down on the desk.

It was a Golden Ticket. The last Golden Ticket.

Andreas's jaw dropped and he looked from the ticket to his teacher and back again.

Ms. Argyris giggled at the look on her student's face and then reached across the table to close his mouth. "I do not have any children of my own, Andreas, nor do any of my siblings. So I decided I would watch all my students and give the ticket to one of them." She picked up the ticket off her desk and handed it to Andreas. "Here, Andreas," she said. "This is for you."

Andreas picked up the ticket and silently read the instructions before looking at Ms. Argyris again. "It says I can bring one member of my family with me. But I don't want anybody from my foster family to go with me. I want _you_, Ms. Argyris. You found the ticket for me. You deserve to come."

Ms. Argyris blushed ever so slightly. "Thank you, Andreas," she said. "I'd love to come with you. But in order for me to come with you, I need to have your foster parents sign a permission slip."

"Like for a field trip," Andreas said.

"Exactly," Ms. Argyris said. She dug around in her desk until she came up with a slip of paper. "It's a good thing I always have extra in my desk." She filled out the information and then handed it to Andreas. "Get your parents to sign that. We'll have to leave on Monday in order to make it on time. I'll arrange the details of our trip like the flight and a hotel room, okay?"

"Okay!" Andreas said. He put the ticket and permission slip in his bag and headed for the door. "See you on Monday, Ms. Argyris," he said.

"Have a good weekend, Andreas," Ms Argyris said.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: All right! My first review! writtensofine67, I may have seen that story before it was deleted. I did see **_**a**_** story where a foster kid won the last ticket. Was your foster kid a girl? The one I saw had a girl foster kid.**

**Also, just so everyone knows, I plan to update this story once a week until it's done. The story is already written, but if anybody has any ideas of things I could put in, I would be happy to hear them.**

* * *

A few days later, Andreas stood with Ms. Argyris and the other ticket winners with their parents outside the gates of the Wonka factory. Crowds of people were gathered around them. A sudden gust of wind blew past him. He shivered. "It's cold here," he said.

"I know," Ms. Argyris said. "But it should be nice and warm inside."

"How much…" Andreas started to ask, but was cut off by sound of bells from the nearby church clock.

BONG!

"Never mind," Andreas said as the bell continued to toll.

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

The gates slowly swung open. "Please Enter," came a voice. Andreas and Ms. Argyris rushed for the gates along with the other ticket winners. They all stopped just inside the gates, unsure of what to do now. "Come Forward," instructed the voice. "Dear visitors," it continued. "It is my great pleasure to welcome you to my humble factory. And who am I? Well…"

The grey stone doors opened revealing a red curtain. This lifted to reveal a stage on which were a bunch of dolls. Some were attached to what looked like a large wheel. Others were standing up on a disk that rotated. The whole display was brightly colored. As they watched, the dolls moved around on the stage and several high-pitched voices sang out:

_Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka  
__The amazing chocolatier  
__Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka  
__Everybody give a cheer, Hooray!  
__He's modest, clever, and so smart,  
__He barely can restrain it  
__There's so much generosity  
__There is nowhere to contain it…to contain it  
__To contain, to contain, to contain!_

_Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka  
__He's the one that you're about to meet  
__Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka,  
__He's the genius who just can't be beat  
__The magician and the chocolate wiz  
__He's the best darn guy who ever lived…  
__Willy Wonka, here he is!'_

A chair appeared from underneath, but no one was sitting on it. Fireworks went off. Some of the dolls caught on fire and started melting.

Suddenly they were aware of another person who was applauding and laughing. He was standing next to Veruca and Mr. Salt. The group looked at him as he said, "Wasn't that just _magnificent?_ I was worried it was getting a little dodgy in the middle, but then that finale! _Wow!_" With that he skipped up the steps and turned around to face them.

Andreas studied the man. He was extremely pale. His hair was dark brown in color, straight, and cut about at chin length. He was wearing a long, black coat, but Andreas could see that he had another, plum red one underneath. On his head was a top hat. His eyes were hidden by a pair of goggles. In his hand was a cane that appeared to be filled with millions of tiny candies. He could also see a gold W pin at the man's throat.

There were a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. The man in front of them suddenly pulled out a set of what looked like flash cards and read off them. "Dear guests," he read, 'Greetings. Welcome to the factory. I shake you warmly by the hand…" He held out one purple gloved hand. Then, seeming to think better of it, he pulled his hand back before continuing, "My name is Willy Wonka."

"Then shouldn't you be up there?" asked Veruca, pointing at the still flaming chair.

"Well, I couldn't watch the show from up there, now could I, li'l girl?" Mr. Wonka asked, putting away the cards. He turned around. "Let's get a move on, kids," he said. Once they were inside and the doors had closed behind them, Mr. Wonka removed the black outer coat and goggles. "Just drop your coats anywhere," he said, dropping his stuff on the floor. Everyone followed his lead. Once they were ready, he led them down the hallway.

"Don't you vant to know our names?" Augustus Gloop asked.

"No," Mr. Wonka said. "I already know them."

"Prove it," said Mike Teevee, folding his arms.

"You're Mike Teevee," Mr. Wonka said. He turned to Violet Beauregard, "You are Violet Beauregard." Then came Veruca, "You're Veruca Salt." Then Augustus, "You're Augustus Gloop." Lastly, Mr. Wonka turned to Andreas with a smile, "And last but certainly not least, you are Andreas Kostakis."

"Yes, sir," Andreas said, bowing his head slightly. He smiled and indicated Ms. Argyris by his side, "And this is the teacher who found me my ticket, Ms. Argyris."

Mr. Wonka looked at Ms. Argyris, smiled slightly, and then addressed the whole group. "And the rest of you must be their p-p-uh, moms and dads." Mr. Wonka paused for a moment before he said, "Now that we have that all taken care of, let's get on with the tour."


	3. Chapter 3

Andreas and Ms. Argyris followed Willy Wonka out of the Television Room. It had been an...interesting day. First, Augustus Gloop had fallen in the chocolate river and gotten sucked up a pipe. Next, Violet Beauregard had taken a piece of not-quite-ready gum in the inventing room and turned into a blueberry. After that, Veruca Salt tried to steal a squirrel from the nut room and ended up attacked by them and thrown down the garbage chute along with her father. Lastly, Mike Teevee had sent himself by television in the television room and ended up about three inches tall.

"So," Mr. Wonka said turning around to face them. "How many children are left?"

"Mr. Wonka," Ms. Argyris said, "Andreas is the only one left."

"You're the only one?" Mr. Wonka asked.

"Yes," Andreas said.

Mr. Wonka stared at him for a moment as if in surprise before the corners of his mouth curved upwards in a thousand watt grin that made Andreas smile back at him. "Oh my dear Andreas!" Willy exclaimed, grabbing the boy's hand, "That means you've won!" He began vigorously shaking Andreas' hand. "Oh I do congratulate you, I really do," he babbled, "I'm absolutely delighted, and I'll let you know right from the beginning, well done! Now we mustn't dilly or dally because we have an enormous amount of things to do before the day's out, but luckily for us we've got the great glass elevator," Mr. Wonka removed his hand from Andreas', turned and headed for the elevator, "to speed things alon..."

CRASH!

"Are you okay, Mr. Wonka?" Andreas asked looking down at the fallen chocolatier, cradling his right arm in his left from the vigorous shaking it had just received.

"Speed things along," Mr. Wonka finished as he got to his feet. He opened the elevator door and the three of them entered. Willy pressed a button in the elevator that read 'Up and Out.'

"Where does that go, Mr. Wonka?" Andreas asked.

"You'll see," Willy said with a smirk.

The elevator started to move upwards slowly, but it started going faster and faster. "Up," Ms. Argyris said softly. She looked straight up and found she was gazing through a skylight. She turned to Mr. Wonka. "And out?" she asked.

Mr. Wonka grinned, pleased that she had figured it out. He nodded. "Uh-huh," he said.

"But it'll break!" Andreas exclaimed, wringing his hands with worry.

"We'll just have to see about that!" Mr. Wonka said.

Andreas gulped and scooted closer to Ms. Argyris. "I'm scared," he said softly.

"Me too, Andreas," Ms. Argyris said, putting her arm about the boy and pulling him closer, "Me too."

"I wish you had been my mother," Andreas said. Ms. Argyris squeezed his arm gently in response.

CRASH!

Andreas yelped and closed his eyes. He felt the elevator continue to rise and then suddenly begin to fall again.

Ding!

The elevator stopped moving. Andreas cautiously opened his eyes and looked around. "We're all right?" he asked cautiously.

"Of course we are!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed with a grin. "See, nothing to worry about!"

Andreas grinned at Mr. Wonka. "Why couldn't you have just said that we'd be safe?" he asked.

"That was the first time I've ever pressed that button," Mr. Wonka told them with a grin. "I'd wanted to for years, but I never actually did it."

"You could have told us that," Andreas crossed his arms.

"Would it have made any difference?" Mr. Wonka replied, still grinning. He turned to the panel of buttons. "You two are from Greece, right?" he asked.

"Right," Andreas said.

Mr. Wonka pressed a series of buttons and then said, "Get comfortable, I'm taking you two home."

* * *

A few hours later, Mr. Wonka dropped Ms. Argyris off at her house and then turned to the corner of the elevator. He reached out and shook Andreas, who had fallen asleep. "Wakey wakey," he said.

"Huh?" Andreas came awake, blinking rapidly.

"I need you to give me directions to your house," Mr. Wonka said. "We're in Greece."

"Where's Ms. Argyris?" Andreas asked, looking around.

"I just dropped her off," Mr. Wonka explained. "Now come on, dear boy, show me where you live."

Andreas looked out through the glass of the elevator and finally pointed out a house. "Over there," he said. Mr. Wonka carefully steered the glass elevator towards the house that Andreas indicated.

* * *

Andreas' foster family were all relaxing in the living room, watching TV when suddenly something came crashing through the ceiling. Everybody screamed and quickly moved out of the way. Once the dust cleared, they could see a strange glass box with two people inside it. One they recognized was Andreas but the other one they didn't know who he was. The doors opened and Andreas came out. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Raptis," he said. "I'm back."

"We can see that," his foster father said.

"Who's your friend?" his foster mother asked, indicating the unfamiliar man who had come out of the elevator and was standing next to Andreas.

"This is Willy Wonka," Andreas said. "He gave me a ride home."

"You must be Andreas' f-"

"Foster family?" Andreas' foster mother interrupted Mr. Wonka, "Yes."

The room was uncomfortably silent for a moment before Andreas spoke up. He looked over at Mr. Wonka. "Can you tell me what I won now?" he asked.

"I sure can!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed with a grin.

"He won something?" Andreas' foster father asked.

"Not just some something," Mr. Wonka said, being careful not to meet the eyes of anybody except Andreas. "The most something something of any something that's ever been. I'm going to give you my factory, Andreas."

"WHAT?!" everybody in the room exclaimed.

"It's true," Mr. Wonka smiled down at Andreas shocked face. "You see, recently, I was getting my semi-annual haircut, and I found this!" With that, he pulled something out if his pocket, holding it up.

"A grey hair?" Andreas' foster mother looked amused.

"Yes," Mr. Wonka said. "In this single grey hair, I realized I was getting old and would one day die. I thought of everything I had. My factory. My life's work. My beloved oompa-loompas. Who would look out for them when I was gone? I realized I needed a 'hair.'" He smiled and stuck the hair back in his pocket. "And I found him." He nodded at Andreas. "You, Andreas."

"That was why you sent out the Golden Tickets," Andreas said, finally understanding.

"Uh-huh," Mr. Wonka said. "I decided to invite five children to come to the factory and whoever was the least nasty would win." He grinned. "So, are you ready to leave this place and come live in the factory with me?"

"Absolutely!" Andreas exclaimed. He headed for the stairs. "Just let me get my stuff."

"Hold it, Andreas," Andreas' foster father's voice froze him in his tracks. He turned around. "Mr. Wonka," Andreas' foster father said. "We are honored that you chose Andreas to be your heir. We really are..."

"No thanks necessary," Mr. Wonka interrupted with a grin.

"...but we can't let you have him," Andreas' foster father finished.

Mr. Wonka's grin faded and his face fell. "What?" he asked. His voice sounded small and forlorn.

"We can't let you just barge in here and take him," Andreas' foster father repeated. "He has been placed in our care. If you just took him it would be the same as stealing."

"Nothing worse than a thief," Mr. Wonka said. He looked up again. "Can I at least say goodbye to him?" he asked. Andreas' foster father stepped out of the way, and Mr. Wonka took this as a sign of permission. He walked forwards and knelt in front of Andreas. "I'm going to get you out of here," he promised. "No matter what it takes. No matter how long. I will get you out of here."

"Do you promise?" Andreas asked.

"I do," Mr. Wonka said. He drew an 'X' over his heart. "Cross my heart and hope to die by a whangdoodle sting." With that he straightened up, turned, entered the glass elevator, and flew off into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: writtensofine67, here! (grabs tree branch and holds it out into the pit). Yeah, I know Andreas doesn't have it easy, but things are about to get a little better for him.**

* * *

"Hey! Wonka's boy!"

Andreas winced. _Pavlos, great,_ he thought. "What do you want?" he asked in annoyance.

"Where's your Mr. Wonka, eh?" Pavlos taunted, sauntering over to him. "Where's your ticket out of this dump, huh? Huh? Where? Face it, Wonka's boy, he's forgotten all about you. He ain't coming. He's found a different child to become his heir. You're stuck here until you're eighteen just like the rest of us."

"I'm not!" Andreas leaped off the chair he'd been sitting in. "Mr. Wonka's coming for me! He said so! He promised!"

"Ha!" Pavlos said. "But what's a promise worth to someone like him. He could have anybody he wanted for his heir. Why would he choose you?"

Andreas growled, hands clenching in anger. He knew Pavlos was just trying to get him mad so he'd fight with him and get in trouble. He did it all the time. This time, he was determined not to rise to the bait. "For your information, _Pavlos_," he said, surprising himself at how much he sounded like Mr. Wonka, "He _is_ coming. You weren't looking in his eyes when he promised he would come. I was. He meant every word he said that night. When he does, one of the things I will most enjoy getting away from is _you_." With that, he pushed past Pavlos and stalked up to his room.

Once he was in the room he shared with two other boys, he sank down on his cot and stared out the window. _Is he really coming?_ he wondered. _He did promise, but..._he sighed. It had been so long. Several months in fact. It had been February when he'd had the tour and it was now August. It was so hard not to doubt that Mr. Wonka was really going to come for him. He suddenly spotted something in the distance. It was a tiny speck in the sky. He watched it as it came closer, hoping. He had been disappointed so many times, finding out that the speck he had been watching was a bird or a plane. Suddenly, a grin appeared on his face. "Oh Pavlos!" he called.

"What is it?" Pavlos snapped, coming into the room.

"Look out there!" Andreas said, still grinning. Pavlos did, and his eyes widened. "Told you so!" Andreas gloated. With that, he grabbed his satchel, quickly packed his few belongings, threw it over one shoulder and dashed out of the bedroom, out of the house, and down onto the lawn. "Mr. Wonka! Mr. Wonka!" he called, waving one hand frantically and hopping up and down. Mr. Wonka landed on the front lawn and he opened the door. Andreas dashed over. "You came!" he exclaimed.

Andreas' foster family was by now standing on the porch of the house. "I've come for Andreas," Mr. Wonka said. "The authorities have approved it and everything. I am now his foster father."

"I know," Andreas' former foster father said. "I received word this morning that he would be placed with you."

"Come on, Andreas," Mr. Wonka said. "Let's go."

"Bye!" Andreas said, waving at them before entering the elevator with his new foster father.

* * *

A few hours later, Andreas and Mr. Wonka were within sight of the factory. "Say, Andreas," Mr. Wonka said suddenly.

"Huh?" Andreas asked, looking over.

"Now that we're going to live in the same factory, why don't you call me Willy?" Mr. Wonka said.

Andreas grinned. "Sure...Willy." _Feels weird calling the world famous chocolatier by his first name,_ he thought as the elevator entered the factory, _But I like it._

Once they were safely inside, Willy pressed a button marked 'residence' and off they flew. When they arrived, Willy immediately left the elevator. Andreas stayed inside, feeling shy for some reason. "Come on, Andreas!" Willy exclaimed. "You can't see your new home from in there!" Andreas chuckled and exited the elevator.

They were in a large living room. There were two doors to the left and two doors to the right. He assumed these led to his and Willy's rooms. There were large dark blue recliners and couches scattered about, as well as coffee tables and lamps. He noticed that at the back, the area was divided in half. Half of the space was taken up by another room and the other half with what looked like a dining area (he couldn't really call it a room since there wasn't a wall there) with a dining table and chairs made of some dark wood. The floor, he found, was hardwood and was made up of small diamonds of all kinds of different types of wood. The walls appeared to be covered with glitter. _How did he do that?_ Andreas wondered. The walls of the living room were silver glitter and the walls of the dining area were gold glitter.

Willy watched Andreas as he gazed about the room. When Andreas finally turned his attention back to Willy, he grinned. "Let me show you your rooms," he said, and threw open a door.

"Room_s_?" Andreas repeated, following him, "As in more than one?"

"Yes," Willy said. He backed up. "Go on! Take a look around!"

Andreas poked his head inside and grinned. The walls of his new bedroom were covered with paint splats. It was like someone had covered the floor, ceiling, and doorways with plastic and then waved brushes around until the walls were covered. It was certainly crazy, but he admitted he liked the effect. He noticed that there was a dark blue carpet on the floor. Impulsively, he kicked off his shoes and walked into the room in his sock feet. It was the softest thing he had ever felt. On one wall was a large bed with dark blue blankets. The bed frame was of cherry wood. A matching bedside table sat next to it. A closet ran the length of the back wall. On the opposite wall as the bed was a set of dressers that matched the table and bed frame. He opened the door of another room. More paint splats on the walls. Here, there was more red and yellow while in his bed room there was more blue and green. He saw a desk and a bookshelf in this room. The floors were hardwood, but were of only one color of wood, unlike the living room and dining area floor.

"This is for you to do your schoolwork in," Willy explained, coming up behind Andreas and making him jump. "If it had been up to me, you wouldn't have stayed in school, but the authorities insisted." Willy pulled a face, causing Andreas to laugh. "I figured that the least I could do would be make it not so nasty for you." then he pointed to another door. "Bathroom's through there," he said. Andreas nodded and, just because he was curious, peeked inside. The walls in there were covered in wallpaper that was covered in bubbles that looked so realistic Andreas expected them to pop when he reached out to touch the wall and there was black and white tile on the floor. There was a shower, a bathtub, and a toilet; all of which were white. Willy then took Andreas over to see his (Willy's) rooms. The rooms were set up similarly to Andreas' rooms, except on Willy's walls was wallpaper that looked like it was covered in candy (what else?) in his bed room and office (which was where Andreas' school work room was), the wood of his bed frame, bedside table, and dresser were maple wood, and his rug and blankets were a dark red that matched his coat.

They finally settled on a couch in the living area. After a few minutes of chatting, Andreas picked up his satchel and said, "I think I'll unpack my stuff now." Willy nodded and watched him walk into his room, a small smile tugging at his lips. The boy was in for a surprise...

Andreas unpacked his satchel and hung it on a hook he found in the room Willy said was for schoolwork. Then he turned back and went over to the dresser. He opened a drawer, only to find it already had clothes in it. Closing it quickly, he tried another drawer. And another. All the drawers had clothes in them. "What on earth..." Andreas said to himself.

"The oompa-loompas made those for you," Willy's voice, coming from the doorway of the room, caused Andreas to jump. "You'll find more in your closet," he added.

Andreas pulled out a shirt and held it up. "It's my size," he said.

"The oompa-loompas can just look at a person and know their size," Willy said, answering the unspoken question. "Some of the tailors checked out the winners while you guys were stuffing your faces in the Chocolate Room so as soon as we knew who won they would start making new clothes." Suddenly, he had an idea. "Say! Why don't you change into a new outfit? Then we can get rid of your old things all at once."

"Okay," Andreas said.

Willy backed out of the room. "I'll just wait outside for you," he said, closing the door.

A few minutes later, Andreas came out of his room dressed in a light blue shirt and dark blue pants with a black belt and shoes. He carried all his old clothes in his arms. Willy called some oompa-loompas and they came and took them away. Andreas plopped down on the couch, removed his shoes, curled his feet under him, and sighed. "I think I'm going to like it here," he said.

"Well, I should hope so!" Willy exclaimed with a grin.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: We see a familiar character in this chapter. :-)**

* * *

A month later, in September, Andreas slipped quietly out the side gate of the factory and headed down the hill towards the school. It was his first day in a new school, and he was nervous. He adjusted his satchel. _I don't expect to find anyone to be my friend,_ he thought as he entered the school yard and entered the school building. _I just don't want anybody to be mean._

He slowly entered the classroom and took an empty seat behind a skinny boy with dark hair. He watched as other students came in and took their seats.

A few minutes after the last student had gotten settled at their desk, the teacher came in. Andreas was startled. She had honey blond hair, brown eyes, and a friendly smile. He never would get used to the different colors of hair and eyes of the people of this country. The teacher removed her bag and set it down on the desk at the front of the room. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning," the students replied.

"I'm Ms. Sedore, your teacher this year," the teacher said. "I'm new to your school, but I hear there's a new student here." Her eyes swept over the group until they met Andreas' gaze. "Andreas Kostakis, would you come up here?"

Andreas, suddenly feeling shy at seeing everyone turn around and look at him, huddled down in his chair. "I'd rather not," he said.

"That's all right," the teacher said. "I understand how you feel. I'm new here, too." She smiled. Then she turned her attention back to the rest of the class and started the first lesson of the day.

The morning wound on and they had lesson after lesson. Andreas felt himself losing interest and idlely glanced over the shoulder of the boy in front of him.

Apparently the boy felt the same way because he was starting to doodle in his notebook instead of taking notes. Andreas watched and, to his delight, began to recognize the shape of the factory he now lived in slowly appearing under the boy's pen. There were the tall smokestacks rising into the sky. There was the high wall and the curving, protective gates. He even drew some of the front doors of the factory. Andreas smiled, marveling at the detail of the drawing.

Ms. Sedore called lunch and everybody got up and began packing away their books before going to get their lunches. Andreas looked for the artist, curious to see who the boy's friends were. To his surprise, he saw him walking off alone, head down.

Andreas took a deep breath. "Hey! Wait a minute!" he called and ran after the other boy. He saw the other boy stop suddenly and tense, as if expecting to be hit or taunted, before turning around. Andreas could see that he was quite pale, like everyone here was (though none of them were as pale as his new foster dad, Andreas realized). The boy's eyes were a soft green in color. Andreas took all this in at a glance as he slowed down. "I just wanted to tell you what a great artist you are. I was sitting behind you and I saw the picture of the Wonka factory you drew."

The boy looked embarrassed. "Thanks," he said his voice soft. "I love the Wonka factory."

"So do I," Andreas said with a smile.

"You do?" the boy asked, for the first time looking Andreas in the eyes.

"Yeah," Andreas said. "Even though I'm new in town, I already love it."

"Oh, that's right," the boy said. "You're the new boy, aren't you? Andreas, right?"

"That's right," Andreas said and then, feeling bold, he added, "I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me."

The boy finally smiled. "I'd like that," he said, and then added, "I'm Charlie, by the way."

Andreas fell into step beside Charlie and they made their way to the cafeteria. They found a table to themselves and sat down. "So how do you like your first day here?" Charlie asked once they were settled.

"It seems like a nice place," Andreas said. "The city, too. I like it here, even though it's small. I used to live in a bigger city, but I didn't like that very much. I lived in the country for a while before that."

Charlie smiled. "I have always lived here," he said.

"Do you know anything about the factory?" Andreas asked.

Charlie nodded. "Some," he said. "My Grandpa Joe used to work for Mr. Wonka. He's told me a lot of stories. I'd tell them to you, but he's a much better storyteller than I am. I'd just ruin them." Charlie sighed and got a wistful look in his eyes.

"What is it?" Andreas asked.

"Do you remember the Golden Ticket contest?" Charlie asked. Andreas nodded. How could he forget it? "I wanted to win a ticket so much," he said. "Grandpa Joe did too," he shrugged, "but I didn't have any luck. My family and I couldn't afford for me to buy chocolate every day. But I still wish more than anything that I was able to get a ticket."

Andreas nodded. He understood about wanting something that badly and not being able to have it. Hesitantly, Andreas leaned forwards. "Can you keep a secret?" he asked.

"I can," Charlie said, lowering his voice.

"I actually was the fifth Golden Ticket winner," he said. Charlie's eyes grew wide. "I met Willy Wonka. I went on the tour. Now, I live in the factory as his heir."

"What's it like inside?" Charlie whispered, eyes glowing.

"It is the most incredible, magical place I have ever seen, Charlie," Andreas said. "It seems like every day I find out something new about it. There's never a boring day inside the factory. There's always some new adventure to go on. Having Willy be there with me just makes it all the more so."

"Mr. Wonka lets you call him by his first name?" Charlie asked incredulously.

"Uh-huh," Andreas nodded. "Since day one."

"Wow, are you lucky," Charlie whispered.

"Not really," Andreas said, looking down at his tray.

"Why not?" Charlie asked. "You live at the Wonka factory. How can you say..."

"I may live there," Andreas said looking at Charlie, "And it might be mine someday, but right now it's not and I don't feel like I can call it mine." Charlie looked puzzled. Andreas sighed and looked down again. "I'm a foster child," he said. "My teacher was the one who found the ticket. She gave it to me because she didn't have any children of her own and I decided to take her on the tour. Willy then took me back to my foster home after the tour and told me and everyone about the prize. I was willing to go with him, but my foster parents wouldn't let him take me. Willy promised me he'd find a way for me to come live with him. Months passed and he didn't come back. Finally, just as I was giving up hope, he came for me. He'd gotten approved and I had been placed with him. Then he took me back to the factory and here I am." He looked up and finished with a shrug, "So, you see, Willy's just my foster dad." He held his breath, hoping Charlie would still like him even though he knew now he was a foster child.

"That's okay," Charlie said with a smile. "He sounds like the greatest foster dad you could ask for."

Andreas let out his breath and returned the smile. Charlie clearly had a way of looking on the bright side of things. "Yeah, he is," he said.

Just then the bell rang and the two of them got up to return to class. As they walked through the halls, Andreas decided to invite Charlie over to come see the factory. He opened his mouth to invite him, but then snapped it shut again. _Better not,_ he thought. He knew that Willy was a bit of a recluse and probably wouldn't be very happy if Andreas just brought someone over. He figured he should ask first and make sure it was okay.


	6. Chapter 6

Doris was waiting for Andreas when he slipped inside the factory after school was over. "How was your first day?" she asked.

Andreas tossed his jacket on the floor before answering. "Actually, it wasn't that bad. I did meet a nice boy who's a great artist."

"I knew you'd make friends," Doris said with a smile. Andreas grinned and the two of them walked along the corridor in companionable silence. In a minute, Doris broke it. "Will you be looking for Willy after you've changed out of your school clothes?" she asked.

Andreas nodded down at the tiny woman. "Where is he?" he asked.

"You have three guesses and the first two don't count," Doris replied with a grin.

"Inventing room?" Andreas asked, raising an eyebrow.

Doris nodded, still grinning, and the two of them laughed.

"I'd better get back to the administration offices," she said once their laughter had subsided.

"Okay, bye, Doris!" Andreas called and headed for the suite he shared with Willy.

* * *

"Doris told me you made a friend in school today," Willy said that evening at dinner.

Andreas nodded and quickly swallowed. "I did," he said. "His name's Charlie and he's a great artist. He drew a picture of the factory. It came out really well." He hesitated and then added, "Actually, I wanted to ask you if he could come and visit sometime. He loves the factory as much as we do, I think."

Wily smiled. "If he loves this factory as much and you say he does, then I'd like to meet him," he said. He gave Andreas a playful poke in the arm and added. "Besides, I need to make sure this buddy of yours isn't a brat. I won't have my foster kid and heir hanging out with brats."

Andreas noticed a mischievous little twinkle in Willy's eyes. Knowing he couldn't stop Willy from doing whatever he was going to, he rolled his eyes. "All right," he said. Then he smiled as an idea came to him. "Why don't we give him a tour of the factory?" he asked.

"Great idea!" Willy said with a grin. "Why don't we make it sometime this week? It's fairly quiet right now, and we have some time before we have to start thinking up new ideas for the next candy rush."

"Okay!" Andreas said, returning the smile. He couldn't wait to see the look on Charlie's face when he asked him to come over to visit the factory...even though he knew Willy would be testing him.

* * *

The next morning, Andreas was walking with Willy and happened to glance out a nearby window. "Hey, Willy! Look!" he exclaimed.

"Huh?" Wily came over and glanced out the window.

"That's Charlie!" Andreas said with a grin. "He must be headed for school. I'm going to see if I can catch him and walk with him."

"Good thing you're ready to go," Willy said. He waved a gloved hand. "Go on! Scoot!" he said.

Andreas raced for the glass elevator and flew for the front hall. Once the elevator came to a stop, he dashed along the front hall and burst out front door, clutching his book bag as he ran. Once he was outside the factory gates, he called out "Charlie! Wait up!"

"Andreas!" Charlie said with a smile, clearly happy to see him.

"I saw you from inside the factory," Andreas said, "And I was wondering if I could walk to school with you."

"Sure," Charlie said.

"I told Willy about you," Andreas said.

"You did?" Charlie asked.

"Yep," Andreas said. "He said he'd like to meet you. He even promised to give you a tour."

"Really?" Charlie asked. "Do you mean that?"

"Absolutely," Andreas said. "In fact, could you come tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Charlie repeated in amazement.

"Yeah," Andreas said. "After school. And stay for dinner. Willy and I will take you home afterward."

"I'll really meet Mr. Wonka? And have a tour led by him?" Charlie asked.

"We can spend all day at the factory with Willy if you want," Andreas said with a smile.

Charlie grinned at Andreas, speechless with excitement.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Yes! I'm back at last! The problem turned out to be the power cord, but I had to wait for them to order another one and for it to arrive. They couldn't even give me a temp one for while I wait. I just got my new one today.**

**So on with the story!**

* * *

The next day was sunny and chilly. Andreas escorted Charlie inside the gates and paused as his friend took in the outside of the building. "It's even more incredible inside," he said. "Come on, race you!" With that, he took off running, Charlie close behind him.

"Whew!" Charlie huffed as they came to a stop at the front door. "Good thing it was a tie or we'd have to have a rematch."

Andreas pushed open the front door. "Be careful in here," he said. "It's a bit of a mess. Leftovers from the tour."

"I remember that," Charlie said. "I watched as everyone went inside and saw the show Mr. Wonka put on."

"Well, he still hasn't taken it down," Andreas said. They went inside and Andreas guided Charlie through the remains of the show and past the curtain to the front hall. "Come on," Andreas said. "I need to change my clothes, and we can leave our stuff at the suite." He led the way to the elevator and the two of them got in. Andreas pressed the button for the suite and off they flew.

"Oof!" Charlie grunted as he made contact with the glass before sitting down on the floor.

Andreas chuckled from his place on the floor where the elevator had thrown him, too. "Sorry, I should have warned you about that," he said. "This elevator isn't like any other elevator I've ever been in. It can go everywhere and in any direction." He chuckled. "I still haven't gotten used to the thing, though you should see Willy. I don't know how he does it, but he manages to stay perfectly still and standing upright. Ouch!"

"Sorry!" Charlie quickly pushed away from Andreas, where a sudden jerk had thrown him, causing the two boys to knock heads.

Just then, the elevator stopped and the doors opened with a DING!

Charlie got to his feet and dusted himself off. "That certainly was a wild ride," he said. Then he helped Andreas to his feet.

"Thanks," Andreas said, pulling himself up.

Just as Andreas and Charlie were ready to leave the suite, they heard a voice call out, "Are you two going to spend all day in there?"

"No way, Doris!" Andreas called, "We've already wasted too much time in school!" With that, the two friends exited the suite. "Charlie, I'd like you to meet Doris. She's one of Willy's workers."

"Nice to meet you," Charlie leaned over and, after pausing for a moment, held out the pointer finger of his right hand to her.

"It's nice to meet you too, Charlie," Doris said, clasping his finger in her hand and shaking it with a smile. "Andreas has told us about you." She looked over at Andreas. "Willy told me to tell you he's waiting for the two of you in the Chocolate Room."

"Okay," Andreas said, nodding. "Come on, Charlie."

* * *

After another wild ride in the elevator, Andreas and Charlie arrived in the Chocolate Room. Charlie's eyes were wide, and he smiled as they exited the elevator. "It's beautiful," he said.

"Yeah, it is," Andreas said, grinning at his friend. "I still remember when I first saw this room."

"Was that during the tour?" Charlie asked.

"It was," Andreas said, gazing about the room. "Every time I come in here, it still blows me away." Then he turned to look at Charlie, "Well, come on. Willy's waiting for us." With that, he headed along the path down the hill towards the bridge over the chocolate river. Charlie followed him, quickly catching up. Andreas winked and pointed to the bridge, on which Charlie could see a skinny figure wearing a plum red velvet coat, black pants, and black top hat.

"Is that Mr. Wonka?" Charlie asked, starting to feel excited at the thought of meeting him.

"In the flesh," Andreas said. He jogged the remaining distance to where Willy stood. "Hey, Willy," he said.

Willy smiled down at Andreas, "Hey, kiddo," he said.

Charlie came up to them. Andreas smiled and indicated his friend. "This is Charlie," he said.

Charlie didn't say anything, but the pure hero worship that shone from his eyes must have melted Willy's heart slightly, because he smiled again. "It's good to meet you, Charlie," he said.

Charlie finally found his voice. "It's a true honor to meet you, too," he said. Suddenly he jumped, "Ouch!" he rubbed his arm and looked at Andreas, who had just pinched him. "Why'd you do that?" he asked.

"It looked like you thought you were dreaming," Andreas explained, "I just wanted to show you that you weren't."

Willy laughed. "Well, now that we have that settled, let's move along."

Andreas chuckled. "All right, Willy. Go to it, tour master!"

Willy spun around to face the river. He pointed to it. "Every drop of the river is hot, melted chocolate of the finest quality. And the waterfall is most important. Mixes the chocolate...churns it up...Makes it light and frothy. By the way, no other factory in the world mixes its chocolate by waterfall, my dear boys. And you can take that to the bank!"

"He said the exact same thing during the tour I had," Andreas whispered. "I swear he memorized what he was going to say ahead of time."

"I heard that!" Willy said, not looking at them. Then he turned to them with a grin. "Do you like my meadow, Charlie? Try some of my grass! Please have a blade, please do. It's so delectable and so darn good looking."

"You can eat the grass?" Charlie asked, looking uncertainly between Willy and Andreas.

"Of course you can!" Andreas interrupted Willy, "Everything in this room is eatable. Mmmf!"

"Don't steal my lines, little boy," Willy said, removing his hand from Andreas' mouth.

Charlie tried to cover a chuckle. "You two crack me up," he said.

"Ha ha," Andreas gave Charlie a playful shove. Since Charlie was standing on the downhill slope of the bridge, Andreas' slight push made him lose his balance and sent him staggering backwards off the bridge and he fell into a patch of swudge grass. Andreas instantly raced to Charlie's side. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Charlie said, standing up and brushing himself off.

"Well go on!" Willy waved his hands at them, "Go try something! Enjoy!"

"Come on, Charlie!" Andreas said, and ran off with Charlie right behind him.

Andreas raced up to a tree that was covered in red candy apples. He grabbed two, tossing one to Charlie. "Catch!"

"Thanks!" Charlie caught the apple and bit into it. "Mmmm!"

"Good, huh?" Andreas said before biting into his apple. He smiled. "So, what do you think of Willy?"

"He seems like a great person," Charlie said.

"As great as I said?" Andreas asked.

"Greater," Charlie said with a smile.

Willy, who had followed the boys without either of them noticing, smiled when he heard this.

"I don't think there are any words to accurately describe Willy," Andreas said. He shrugged. "He is who he is."

Charlie chuckled, "He does have a funny haircut, though," he said.

"I do _not!_" Willy's voice caused the two friends to suddenly look around. Willy, however, had quickly ducked behind a nearby peppermint tree, so they didn't see him.

"It's obvious Willy heard you," Andreas said, still looking around the room, "But how?"

Charlie shrugged, and then the two friends burst out laughing.

Charlie and Andreas spent a few more minutes wandering around the room and sampling things until Willy called to them so they could continue the tour.


	8. Chapter 8

"So, you two," Willy said. "What do you think? Boat or elevator?"

"Charlie?" Andreas asked. "Which do you want to take to continue the tour?"

Charlie thought for a moment. "The boat," he finally said.

"Good choice," Willy said. The three of them walked over to where a large pink boat was docked against one of the banks and climbed in. Andreas sat in the middle with Charlie on one side and Willy on the other. "Onward!" Willy called out.

Andreas suddenly turned to Willy. "Oh!" he said. "Why don't you tell Charlie about the oompa-loompas, Willy?"

"Oompa-loompas?" Charlie asked.

"The workers," Andreas clarified, turning to him.

"Imported, direct from Loompa land," Willy said at the same time.

"I've never heard of it," Charlie said. "But then, geography isn't one of my strongest subjects."

"Don't ask anyone at school about it," Andreas warned. "They'd just say there's no such place. Mike Teevee's father was a high school geography teacher, and that's what he said."

"And he was wrong," Willy said. He waved a hand in dismissal. "Anyway," he said. "I went to Loompa land looking for new flavors for candy. The whole place is covered in thick jungles and many dangerous creatures live there. Hornswogglers, snozzwhangers, and the worst of all: the whangdoodles. One actually attacked me, you know?"

"Really?" Charlie asked. Andreas could tell his friend was engrossed in the tale.

"Oh yes, It came right at me. I ran, trying to dodge it, but that didn't work, so I whipped out my machete and..." Willy held out one arm and made a slashing motion, "chopped it in half. Then, since I was looking for new candy flavors, I licked some of the blood off."

Andreas hadn't heard that particular detail of the story last time. "You didn't!" he exclaimed.

"I did," Willy pulled a face, "It was pretty gross."

"Yuck!" Charlie exclaimed.

"No kidding, yuck!" Andreas said.

"Soon after that," Willy said, "I found the oompa-loompas. They lived in tree houses to escape from the fierce predators that lived below. All they ever had to eat were green caterpillars that tasted revolting. They'd look for things to mash up with the caterpillars to make them taste better like red beetles or bark of the bong-bong tree. But the food they longed for the most was the cocoa bean, which is the thing from which chocolate is made. They were very rare in Loompa land. An oompa-loompa was lucky if he found two or three a year. Oh, how they craved them! When I found out about this, I invited them to come here to live and work in the factory. In exchange, I would give them all the cocoa beans they could want." He smiled. "They are such wonderful workers. They are, however, quite mischievous and are always making jokes and pulling pranks."

"They are," Andreas confirmed. "I mean, just this morning one of them woke me up by jumping on my bed, grabbing one of my pillows, and whacking me in the face with it."

"So that's how this morning's pillow fight between you and Asher started, huh?" Willy asked. Andreas nodded and the two of them laughed at the shared memory.

Charlie chuckled and then looked ahead. "Mr. Wonka, Andreas," he said. "We're headed for a tunnel."

"Full speed ahead!" Willy called out.

"But how can they tell where they're going?" Charlie asked, sounding nervous.

"They can't" Willy said. "There's no knowing where they're going." Then he turned to Andreas with a wink.

Andreas grinned back at Willy. "Switch on the lights!" he called out.

The lights flashed on, revealing a steep drop. Andreas grinned at Charlie, who returned the smile as the boat whooshed downwards.

As the boat slowed down, Charlie turned to Andreas. "What a ride!" he said.

"I know," Andreas said, "It's even better than a roller coaster."

"I never went on one," Charlie admitted. "We can't afford to go to amusement parks."

"I understand," Andreas said. "Neither could I until I was in foster care, and even then my foster family and I went only once." The boat sped up once more and went flying over the rapids, making talking impossible. Once things had settled down once more, Andreas saw the door of a room coming up and grinned when he saw the name on it. "Could we stop here, Willy? This is one of my favorite rooms."

"Why not?" Willy said. "Stop the boat!"

As they pulled up in front of the room, Charlie read the name: 'Fizzy Lifting Drinks.'


	9. Chapter 9

The room they entered was huge. The walls were painted a pale blue with realistic looking white clouds. In the center of the room was a large machine with several buttons with a faucet under each button. Bubbles came floating out of the top of the machine and drifted all around the room.

"This is the room for one of my favorite inventions," Willy told them, "Fizzy Lifting Drinks."

"What do they do?" Charlie asked.

"They lift you up, of course," Willy said. "The bubbles are made of a special kind of gas. They lift you all the way up to the ceiling and there you stay."

"What about if you drink it outside?" Charlie then asked.

"Oh, don't do that!" Willy exclaimed. "I had an oompa-loompa do that once. He just kept going up into the sky. I never saw him again. He's probably on the moon by now."

"He should have burped," Andreas said. Charlie shot him a puzzled glance.

"That's how you get down again," Willy explained, catching Charlie's expression. "Burp the biggest, loudest one you can to get rid of the gas and down you go!"

"Could we have some, Willy?" Andreas asked.

"Of course," Willy said. He pushed on a part of the wall and it opened to reveal a storage place with cups. He pulled out three and handed two to Charlie and Andreas. "Now go on," he said, "Choose your flavors." With that, he went over to the machine in the middle of the room.

Andreas had, of course, been in this room before a few times. He had decided one time that he would simply go around the machine and sample each flavor so that by the time he was Willy's age (if he was still at the factory at that point, of course) he could say he'd tasted them all. He walked along the side of the machine until he came to the next untried one, peach, and filled his glass. Charlie, he noticed, had chosen chocolate. Willy was doing a mixture of several different flavors: strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, marshmallow, pineapple, and banana. After each one had gotten his drink, they stood together at one end of the machine and drank.

Charlie was the first to start floating, followed quickly by Willy and Andreas. When Charlie realized it, even though he knew it was going to happen, it surprised him enough that he dropped his glass.

Tunk! Tunk tunk tunk-a-tunk tunk.

The glass bounced off the floor and bounced a few more times before coming to a stop against a wall. Willy, with a mischievous grin, then dropped his glass.

Tunk! Tunk tunk tunk-a-tunk tunk tunk. Clunk.

His glass bounced across the floor as well before knocking into Charlie's glass and rolling away. Andreas chuckled. "Go on, Andreas!" Willy urged, "Drop yours, too!" Andreas shrugged and dropped it.

Tunk! Tunk tunk tunk-a-tunk. Clunk. Tunk tunk tunk. Clunk!

Andreas' cup bounced across the floor, clunked into Willy's, bounced a few more times, and then clunked with Charlie's before rolling away in a different direction.

The three of them laughed. "What was that all about, Willy?" Andreas asked once he'd gotten control of himself again.

"I once heard about this thing called a cup drop," Willy explained. "People would push their cups off the table in order to hear them bounce across the floor. I always wanted to try it."

"I bet nobody ever did one while floating in midair," Charlie said with a smile.

"Of course not," Willy said. "How could they?" The three of them laughed as they floated around the room.

"Every time I come in here I think this is what being a balloon must feel like," Andreas said to Charlie.

"I'd think so, too," Charlie said. "It sure is fun."

"I know," Andreas said. He suddenly burped. "Whoops!" he said, starting to sink, "Excuse me!"

Then Charlie burped and started to sink. "Excuse me, too," he said.

Lastly, Willy gave a really loud burp and started to sink. "Excuse you!" Andreas said, looking up with a chuckle.

Once they were back on the ground, Charlie went over to pick up his fallen cup. "You don't have to pick that up, Charlie," Willy said, "The oompa-loompas will take care of it." With that, he turned around and walked out of the room.

"Come on, Charlie," Andreas said, hurrying to catch up with his foster father.

Charlie, who had already picked up his cup, quickly set it on a nearby shelf and dashed after them.

* * *

**A/N: The cup drop is actually a trend from the cafeteria at my alma mater. I always thought it was funny, but I never joined in.**


	10. Chapter 10

Willy and Andreas showed Charlie around the factory all afternoon. Andreas watched as Charlie and Willy slowly grew more comfortable around each other.

At the end of the day, the three of them headed for the glass elevator. Willy was walking ahead of Charlie and Andreas, who were talking together. "What do you think of the factory, Charlie?" Andreas asked.

"I love it," Charlie said, smiling. "You were right when you said it was an incredible and magical place."

"You haven't seen half of it," Andreas said. Then he shrugged and admitted, "Neither have I."

"But you've seen more than I have," Charlie pointed out.

"True," Andreas said, "And what I've seen is just as wild, crazy, fun, and magical as what Willy and I showed you today. I don't care that some people would say everything in this place is pointless. I love it here."

"Me too," Charlie said. He smiled and added, "Candy doesn't have to have a point. That's why it's candy."

"The point of candy is to have fun," Andreas agreed.

Neither boy noticed Willy look over his shoulder at them and grin at their comments. Neither did they notice that Willy had stopped until they collided with him and caused him to fall forwards and smack into the doors of the Great Glass Elevator.

"Sorry, Mr. Wonka," Charlie was the first to climb off the pile up.

Andreas got up next. "Are you all right, Willy?" he asked.

Willy got to his feet and dusted himself off. "I'm fine," he said.

Andreas couldn't wait any more. "Well?" he asked.

"Well what?" Willy asked, knowing what Andreas meant.

Charlie looked confusedly between Willy and Andreas, wondering what was going on. Andreas caught his eye and quickly looked away. "Andreas?" Charlie asked.

Andreas sighed and looked back at his friend. "There was another reason why I invited you to come over, Charlie. It wasn't just that I wanted you to see the factory and meet Willy. I mean, I did, but that wasn't why Willy agreed to let you come." Andreas looked down, embarrassed. "The truth is that Willy felt like he had to approve of you and our being friends."

"I did not say that!" Willy interrupted. "I just said I wanted to make sure he wasn't rotten or a brat like those other four who took the tour with you that day!"

"It's the same thing, Willy," Andreas said. Willy ignored Andreas' comment.

"So is it okay that Andreas and I are friends?" Charlie asked.

Willy suddenly grinned and clapped Charlie heartily on the back. "You bet it is!" he said. "I'm absolutely thrilled and delighted that the two of you are friends! I couldn't have found a better friend for Andreas if I tried!"

"Willy, you're babbling," Andreas said, stifling a snicker.

Willy then reached out and pressed the button to open the elevator doors. "Come on, you two," he said.

"Where are we going?" Andreas asked, following him into the glass elevator.

"We're taking Charlie home," Willy replied. He looked at Andreas, "Isn't that what p-p-p-..."

"Parents?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, them," Willy said. "Isn't that what we're supposed to do for friends of our kids? Take them home after they visit?"

"I guess," Andreas said, smiling up at Willy. Willy grinned down at Andreas and then, with a wink, pressed the 'up and out' button."

"'Up and out'?" Charlie asked. "What kind of room is that?"

Andreas smiled. "You'll see," he said.

"Hold on," Willy said at the same time.

The elevator went up, gaining speed as it went. Andreas suddenly nudged Charlie and, when he had his friend's attention, looked upwards.

Charlie followed his friend's gaze and found he was gazing out through a skylight. His eyes widened in realization as he turned to Willy. "Do you really mean..." he started to ask.

Willy grinned at Charlie. "Yeah, I do!"

"But it'll break!" Charlie exclaimed.

"No it won't," Andreas said. "Willy has done this before. It'll be okay, you'll see."

CRASH!

The elevator burst through the skylight and flew up into the sky. Then, suddenly, it started to fall. Willy moved his hand so it was in front of the button to stop the free fall, hesitated, and then pulled back, turning to Andreas with a grin. "Press it, Andreas," he said. Andreas grinned back and pressed the button, causing the rockets to fire.

Andreas laughed. "What a rush!" he said.

"Fun, huh?" Willy said.

"That was scary," Charlie said, looking a little paler than usual. He turned to Andreas, "Weren't you scared?"

"Not this time," Andreas admitted, "but the first time I went up and out I was terrified. I thought for sure we'd all be killed."

"Where do you live, Charlie?" Willy asked.

Charlie looked outside and pointed. "Over there," he said. "That little house."

The house Charlie pointed to was a little rundown, tipped over, wooden shack with a large hole in the roof.

Willy flew the elevator closer and then landed it just outside the front gate. He pressed the button to open the doors and Charlie ran out. At the door, he turned around and waved. "Bye, Andreas, Mr. Wonka! Thank you!" he called.

"See you in school tomorrow, Charlie," Andreas called out to his friend, waving back.


	11. Chapter 11

That Saturday afternoon, Andreas slipped out of the factory's side gate. Charlie had invited him to come over and meet his family. After asking Willy if it was okay, Andreas had accepted the invitation. He walked down the street and up to the Bucket house and knocked.

Charlie opened the door, "Hi! Come in!" He turned around. "Mum! Dad! Andreas is here!"

Andreas walked into the house and removed his coat, looking around for a place to hang it. "Here, let me take that," said a female voice, causing him to spin around. A woman with curly auburn hair and green eyes like Charlie's stood in front of him, holding out one hand to take his coat.

"Are you Charlie's mother?" he asked, handing over his coat.

"I am," she replied, hanging it up on a nearby coat rack.

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Andreas said, bowing slightly as he had been taught.

"Well, don't you have good manners," Mrs. Bucket smiled.

A man with dark brown hair like Charlie's and brown eyes got up off the couch and came over to him. "I'm Charlie's father," he said. "You must be Andreas, right?"

"Yes, sir," he said, shaking hands with him.

"Ah, so you're the one Charlie's told us about," Andreas looked over towards the source of the voice and found it came from one of four old people sharing a bed. The one who had spoken, a man who wore glasses, waved him over. When Andreas came over to the bed, the man continued, "I used to work for your old foster dad, you know?"

"You did?" Andreas asked.

"I did," he confirmed.

"He did," the woman next to him said.

"He did," the man across from her said.

"I love grapes," the other old woman said.

Andreas shot her a puzzled glance before turning his attention back to the old man who had spoken first. "That must make you Charlie's Grandpa Joe," he said.

"So he's told you about me," Grandpa Joe said.

"Yeah," Andreas said. "He said you have some amazing stories to tell about working for Willy. I'd love to hear them sometime."

Grandpa Joe patted the blanket that covered him and the other three. "Come on up here, then," he said, "And I'll tell you a couple." He smiled over at Charlie. "You too, Charlie. There's plenty of room for both of you." Charlie and Andreas scrambled up onto the bed and got settled.

"Before you begin storytelling," the other man in the bed grumped, "How about introducing the rest of us, Charlie?"

"Sorry," Charlie said with an apologetic smile. "Andreas, this is my Grandpa George," he indicated the man who had just spoken, "That's Grandpa Joe's wife Grandma Josephine," he indicated the white haired woman next to Grandpa Joe, "And this is Grandpa George's wife Grandma Georgina," he indicated the grey haired woman next to Grandpa George.

"Birds are pretty," Grandma Georgina commented.

Andreas again looked puzzled. "Grandma Georgina says random stuff like that all the time," Charlie explained. Andreas nodded in understanding.

After the introductions were finished, Grandpa Joe started his storytelling. Mr. and Mrs. Bucket pulled up chairs and listened, too. "Willy Wonka began with a single store on Cherry Street," Grandpa Joe began. "But the whole world wanted his candy."

Andreas could easily imagine what it must have been like in Willy's store.

_There were several workers wandering around. Andreas watched as a younger Grandpa Joe left the cash register and walked into the back room. Threading his way through several workers, he walked up to something that looked like a stained glass wall, behind which Andreas could see someone, and said, "Mr. Wonka?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_We need more Wonka bars, and we're out of chocolate birds."_

"_Birds?" the younger Willy said. "Birds. Well then, we'll need to make some more." He handed Grandpa Joe what looked like an egg and put it in his mouth. "Here!" They waited a few minutes, and then Willy said, "Now open." Grandpa Joe did, revealing a chocolate bird sitting on his tongue, peeping. Willy laughed._

Grandpa Joe continued, "The man was a genius. Did you know he invented a new way of making chocolate ice cream so it would never melt? You could even leave it lying in the sun on a hot day and it won't go runny?"

"I believe it," Andreas said.

Grandpa Joe smiled and continued. "Before long, Mr. Wonka decided to build a proper chocolate factory. The largest chocolate factory in history. Fifty times as big as any other."

"I had no idea it was THAT big," Andreas said, eyes wide.

"Oh yes," Grandpa Joe said. "And I can even remember the day it opened, too. It was a perfect day. Mr. Wonka cut the ribbon and walked through the front gates for the first time, turning to face us. Cameras flashed and we all clapped. Josie was there with me that day and I took her in my arms and kissed her."

"Eeeeew!" Andreas exclaimed, making a face.

"Grandpa, don't make it gross," Charlie said.

"Tell the boys about the Indian prince, I bet they'd like to hear about that," Grandma Josephine said.

"You mean Prince Pondicherry," Grandpa Joe said. "Well, Prince Pondicherry sent a letter to Mr. Wonka, asking him to go all the way out to India and build him a colossal palace completely out of chocolate."

"Did Willy go?" Andreas asked.

"He did," Grandpa Joe said. "It had over a hundred rooms when it was finished, and everything was made out of chocolate. The bricks were chocolate and the cement holding them together was chocolate. All the walls and ceilings were made of chocolate as well. So were the carpets and the pictures and the furniture."

"What did Prince Pondicherry do with his palace?" Andreas asked.

"He lived in it," Grandpa Joe said.

"He WHAT?" Andreas asked, holding back a laugh.

"Mr. Wonka warned him it wouldn't last and that he should start eating it right away, but the prince ignored that," Grandpa Joe said, nodding. "But Mr. Wonka was right. Soon after that there came a hot day with a boiling sun."

"No more chocolate palace?" Andreas asked.

"Exactly," Grandpa Joe said. "Prince Pondicherry wrote to Mr. Wonka and asked him to build him a new palace, but Mr. Wonka was having troubles of his own."

Charlie shuddered. "The spies," he said.

"Yes," Grandpa Joe said before turning his attention back to the story. "All the other chocolate makers had grown jealous of Mr. Wonka and began sending in spies to steal secret recipes. Finkelgruber started selling an ice cream that would never melt. Prodnose came out with a chewing gum that never lost its flavor. Then Slugworth started making candy balloons you could blow up to incredible sizes."

"What did Willy do?" Andreas asked.

"One day, without any warning, he told all of his workers to go home," Grandpa Joe said. "He said he was closing his chocolate factory...forever."

"Poor Willy," Andreas said.

"But the good news is it didn't close forever," Charlie said.

"Obviously," Andreas smiled at his friend.

"Yes," Grandpa Joe said. "But it seemed like it would be. Then, one day, we saw smoke rising from the chimney. The factory was back in business. It was a mystery about how...until the Golden Ticket contest winners told about what they had seen inside." During the storytelling, the other three grandparents had fallen asleep and now Grandpa Joe stifled a yawn.

"We should let you get some sleep, Grandpa," Charlie said, climbing carefully off the bed so he didn't wake anybody up.

Andreas followed him off and then smiled back at the dozing off Grandpa Joe. "Thanks for telling me those stories," he said with a smile.

"You're welcome," Grandpa Joe murmured as his eyes closed.

"Come on," Charlie said. "I want to show you my room." With that, he climbed up a nearby chest of drawers and then up the ladder on top of that and into the loft. Andreas struggled up the chest of drawers and then scrambled up the ladder into the loft like a squirrel. He looked around. "Take a look out the window," Charlie suggested.

Andreas did, and smiled. "I love the view of the factory from here," he said.

"I do, too," Charlie said. "The factory is the first thing I see every morning when I wake up and the last thing I see at night when I go to sleep."

Andreas sat on the bed. "You have a great family, Charlie," he said.

"Thanks," Charlie said, smiling. "I wouldn't give up my family for anything."

"I don't blame you," Andreas said. "If I'd had a family like yours, there would be no way I'd ever leave them to go live at the factory with Willy." He looked out the window. "That's what I want most in the world," he said. "A family. A real family that will love me."


	12. Chapter 12

One day, a few weeks later, Willy picked up the day's mail that had just come through the slot. He pulled out one letter. "Andreas," he said, "This one's for you." He handed it over.

Andreas took the envelope. The address was written in a child's handwriting. Curious, he tore the envelope open.

_Deer Andreas,_ The letter read. _It's me, Nomiki. Remember me?_

Andreas looked up. "It's from my family," he said.

"The foster family you were living with?" Willy asked.

"No, my biological family," Andreas said. "More specifically, my little brother. He's the only one in my family who ever learned how to read and write besides me."

"What do they want?" Willy asked.

"I don't know," Andreas admitted. "I haven't finished reading it yet." He turned his attention back to the letter.

_Mum's sick. Badly sick. The doctors say she's going to die because we don't have money to treat her. We heard you're living at the Wonka factory now. Mum asked me to write to you. She wants to see you one last time before she dies. Please come._

Andreas looked up from the letter. "My mother is sick," he said.

"How sick?" Willy asked.

"The letter says she's dying," Andreas said. "She wants to see me."

"Do you want to go?" Willy asked.

Andreas' eyes hardened. "No," he said, anger in his voice. "Not after she did what she did."

"Yeah, who needs her?" Willy said. "Who needs any of them, right?"

"Right!" Andreas said, turning to smile at Willy. _This is my home now._

* * *

That Monday, as he and Charlie were playing together at a nearby park after school, Andreas mentioned the letter. He didn't know quite what caused him to mention it, but he did.

"You should go visit them," Charlie said.

"Why?" Andreas asked.

"They're your family, Andreas," Charlie said. "You said you wanted a family. Now your family is reaching out to you. I would think you'd be happy and want to see them."

"Hmph!" Andreas picked up a rock and tossed it. "After Mom put me in foster care?"

"Why were you put in foster care, Andreas?" Charlie asked, sitting down on a swing.

Andreas sighed and sat down on the swing next to the one his friend was sitting on. "Because there wasn't enough money to support three children and I was the easiest to get rid of," he said. He started pushing the swing back and forth with his foot. "I lived with my family until I was eight," he said. "That year things were particularly bad and Mother couldn't afford to support all of us. My older brother, Filippos, was needed to help take care of the family farm since Dad died soon after my little brother was born. My little brother, Nomiki, the one who wrote the letter, was Mom's favorite so she wouldn't get rid of him. I was the middle child. Least loved, too. So," he shrugged, "I was the one who got dumped in foster care." He looked at Charlie.

His friend's eyes were wide. Shock and sympathy showed in his gaze. "Oh Andreas," he said. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't think of them as my family, even though I lived with them for eight years," Andreas continued. "Mother didn't love me any more." He continued, voice softer. "When I said I wanted to find a real family, I meant I wanted to find one that would love me. Like your family loves you, Charlie."

"I think your family does love you," Charlie said softly. "I think your mother was just trying to do what was best for you and your brothers. She's reaching out to you, Andreas. Don't you think you should give her a chance for what might be the last time?"

"I...don't know," Andreas said.

"How do you feel about them?" Charlie asked. "Do you love them?"

Andreas looked away and towards the factory. "I do," he admitted. "Even after all this time. After everything that happened. I still love them." He looked back to Charlie. "Does that sound strange to you, Charlie?"

"No," Charlie said.

Andreas suddenly stood up. "You're right, Charlie," he said. "I should go and visit them. And I will!"


	13. Chapter 13

Willy, as you might expect, wasn't happy about this change of decision.

"Andreas, families are nothing but trouble!" Willy said. "If you go visit them and take them back into your life they'll start coming around here and telling you what to do and not do. It's not conducive to a creative atmosphere! You can't have them hanging over you like an old dead goose. I mean, look at me. I have no family and I'm a giant success."

"They wouldn't," Andreas crossed his arms. "They just want to see me, and then it will be back to our old lives. I promise."

"I don't think so," Willy said, looking away from Andreas. "Once they see you again they won't want to let you go and then they'll be bossing you around and getting in the way of our work here!"

Charlie had come along with his friend for support. Now he spoke up quietly. "Most families are just trying to protect you because they love you." Willy made a face. "If you don't believe me you should ask," Charlie said.

"Ask who?" Willy asked. "My father?" He laughed. "No way!"

"Your father?" Andreas asked. "You never mentioned that your father's still alive, Willy."

"It's not like it's something I like to talk about," Willy said. "Dad and I were never very close when I was a kid."

"What happened?" Andreas asked.

Willy looked at Andreas. "First, you tell me what happened with yours," he said.

Andreas sighed and told his tale, adding at the end how he hoped to someday find a family that would love him. He paused for a moment and then said, "Now it's your turn, Willy."

Willy got up and paced around the room. "Where should I begin?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter to me," Andreas said.

"Dad was a dentist," Willy said. "He was always making me take care of my teeth. A lot more than other kids had to. He even gave me braces."

"A lot of kids get braces, Willy," Andreas said.

"Not like mine," Willy replied. He stopped at a small, almost hidden door in the wall, opened it, pulled out a book, flipped to a page, and then showed it to Andreas. "See?" he said, pointing at a picture.

The picture showed a boy not much older than Andreas. There was a huge metal cage surrounding his head. His mouth was so full of metal that there was no way he could close his mouth properly. Andreas was mortified. "That was you?" he asked.

"Yes," Willy said, closing the book and putting it back in its place before closing the door. "That was me." He turned back around. "Dad was furious when he found out I wanted to make candy. He said," here, Willy drew himself up to his full height, folded his arms, glared down at Andreas, and snarled, "No some of mine is going to be a chocolatier!" Andreas shuddered. Willy dropped the pose and continued, "So I ran away. When I came back later in the day..." Willy shrugged, "he was gone. The whole house, too."

"What happened?" Andreas asked.

"I ended up like you," Willy said, "In foster care. They placed me, ironically, with a foster family that ran a candy store. They had all us kids do all the hard stuff while they did the fun stuff like inventing." He smiled slightly, "That's why I was so determined to get you out of that foster home. I didn't want you to have to deal with what I went through."

"What happened then?" Andreas asked.

"When I turned fifteen, one night I snuck out of the room I shared with another boy and into the candy shop where I did a little experimenting of my own. The next morning they found my experiments, even though I'd done my best to hide them." Willy's expression turned smug. "I would have been in trouble, except that they tried the candy I'd made. It was so good that instead of punishing me, my foster dad made me his apprentice. Said I had a real talent for candy making." He winced. "That was the only praise I ever received from him. I soon found out that he came down even harder on an apprentice than on a foster kid. I put up with it for three years until I was eighteen, then left, started my own store, and now twenty years later, here I am! Head of the most successful candy company in the world."

"You should still go see him," Charlie said quietly.

"No way!" Willy exclaimed. Then he hesitated and added in a quieter voice. "At least, not by myself."

Andreas walked forwards. "I'll go with you to see your dad if you go with me to see my family," he offered.

Willy hesitated, and then grinned. "Deal!" he said. With that, he headed for the glass elevator. "Come on! Let's go!"

"You want to come with us, Charlie?" Andreas asked, pausing at the doorway to the suite.

Charlie smiled. "No," he said. "This is something for the two of you."


	14. Chapter 14

Andreas and Willy flew the elevator over the farm that had been Andreas' home. He spotted a twenty year old man out in the fields. "That's my older brother, Filippos," he said. Suddenly the man paused in his work and looked up. Willy and Andreas were close enough to see the man's eyes widen in shock.

Willy giggled and steered the elevator towards a patch of grass on the front lawn. "You'd think he never saw a flying glass elevator before," he said.

The doors opened and Andreas took a deep breath and stepped out. Filippos was still staring at them. "Andreas?" he asked.

"Filippos," Andreas said, trying to hide a grin as his brother came running up to him.

Filippos jumped on Andreas, and the two of them wrestled together for a few minutes before Andreas was pinned by his older brother. "Still can't beat me," Filippos said with a grin.

"Just you wait until I'm grown," Andreas said, struggling playfully, "Then you'll see. Now, let me up!" Filippos chuckled and let Andreas go. Andreas stood, brushing off the dirt from his clothes from their playful scuffle. Then he turned to Willy. "Willy, this is my older brother, Filippos Kostakis. Filippos, this is my foster dad, Willy Wonka."

"Honor to meet you," Filippos said, shaking hands with Willy.

"Pleasure's all mine," Willy replied. He quickly pulled away and then brushed the dirt from Filippos's hands off his gloves.

"Sorry about that," Filippos said. Then he turned to Andreas. "Mother has been expecting you," he said.

"I know," Andreas said. He squared his shoulders. "I'm ready."

* * *

As they entered the house, a cry of "Andreas!" greeted their ears and a seven year old boy came running in and knocked him down.

Andreas smiled at the younger boy. "Hey there, brat," he said, tousling the younger boy's black hair.

"Who is this?" Willy asked.

"This is my younger brother, Nomiki," Andreas explained as he got up and helped the younger boy to his feet.

Nomiki looked at Willy and then walked up to him, brown eyes wide. "Are you Willy Wonka?" he asked.

Willy chuckled. "How'd you guess?" he asked.

"You're with Andreas," Nomiki replied. "We know that he lives with you in the factory now." He returned his attention to Andreas. "Come on!" he grabbed Andreas's hand and pulled him towards what he remembered was his mother's bedroom.

Once inside, Andreas made his way over to his mother lying on her bed. He licked his lips and swallowed. "Mother," he said softly.

Andreas's mother, Despoina, slowly opened her eyes and looked around until she saw Andreas. She smiled. "Andreas," she said. She reached out her hand and touched his hand. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't come." Andreas was silent, not wanting to admit that he almost hadn't. Despoina sighed, "You don't have to say anything," she said. "I know that with what happened it wouldn't have surprised me if you didn't come."

"It's all right, Mother," Andreas said. "I told a friend about it, he helped me see it in a way I hadn't before. It's okay now."

"I was just trying to do what I thought was best for the family," Despoina said. She gently cupped Andreas's cheek in her hand. "You don't know how much I missed not having you here," she said. She swallowed. "After that bad year, things got better for us."

"Why didn't you come get me then?" Andreas asked.

"I tried," Despoina said. "I tried my hardest to find you, but nobody would tell me where you had been placed. If Nomiki hadn't seen in the newspaper that you had been placed with Mr. Wonka, I would never have found you."

"Yeah, Willy's great," Andreas said. "I love living with him in his factory."

"I won't try and take you away from him," Despoina said. Her lips curved up in a slight smirk, "I ruined your happiness once already." Andreas chuckled. Despoina continued. "I just want you to know that I love you. I don't think I ever told you before. I also want you and your brothers to have each other after I'm gone. And I will be always watching over you."

_You're not going to die,_ Andreas thought. _I'm going to make sure you get the treatment you need. You're going to live through this._ Aloud, Andreas said, "I love you, too, Mother. I'll make you proud of me." He then leaned over her and hugged her. "I'll write, I promise," he said as he pulled away.

"That's my boy," Despoina said with a smile.

Andreas stayed with his mother until she dozed off and then slipped out of her bedroom. Then he and Willy left.

Once they were in the air, Andreas turned to Willy, "The letter did say Mother could be cured, but the treatment was too expensive," he said. "I was wondering if you would mind paying for it. After all, you are a billionaire."

Willy could see how much this meant to his foster son. He hesitated. "All right," he said.

"Thanks Willy," Andreas said, smiling at him.

"Just as long as they don't end up living at the factory," Willy said.

Andreas chuckled. "All right," he said.


	15. Chapter 15

As they grew closer and closer to their next destination, Andreas could feel Willy get more and more tense and nervous. He couldn't blame him for feeling like that. The elevator flew up to a lone townhouse in the middle of nowhere and landed. Willy and Andreas slowly walked up the steps.

"I think we have the wrong house," Willy said. Then they spotted a golden plaque beside the door that read 'Dr. Wilbur Wonka, D.D.S.'

"If I can do it, you can, too," Andreas whispered as he reached out to press the doorbell. Willy nodded.

The door opened, revealing a man with white hair and beard, dark brown eyes, glasses, and a white dentist's coat. Andreas looked up at him. _I never expected Willy's father to look like that,_ he thought, swallowing nervously.

"Do you have an appointment?" the man asked.

"No," Andreas said, "But it's been a long time."

Willy's father backed up and let them in. "You're fortunate that I have a free day in my schedule," he said, closing the door behind them.

Andreas watched as Willy and his father walked into the other room where he could see was a dentist's chair and equipment. Willy cautiously sat down in the chair. His father made an adjustment and the chair immediately went backwards. Andreas stifled a laugh. He'd never seen a dentist's chair go back that fast before. "Open," Willy's father said. Andreas couldn't see either of their faces at this point, just the back of Willy's father's head and a bit of Willy's hair hanging off the head rest of the chair. There was silence for a few minutes and then Andreas heard Willy's father speak. "Heavens. I haven't seen bicuspids like these since...since..." More silence. Then, finally, "Willy?"

"Hi, Dad," came Willy's voice.

"All these years," Willy's dad said, "and you haven't flossed."

"Not once," Willy said.

_He sounds proud of that,_ Andreas thought with amusement. He watched as Willy's father straightened up and put down the tools in his hand. Willy then sat up and the two of them hugged. Andreas decided to let the two of them be alone and slipped outside as quietly as he could, taking his coat as he went by the coat rack.

Willy and his father heard the door close and slowly pulled apart. "Who was that, anyway, who came in with you?" Wilbur asked.

"That's Andreas," Willy said. "He's a foster kid I have living with me."

"Foster child?" Wilbur repeated.

"He won one of the Golden Tickets and I chose him to be my heir," Willy replied. "In order to have him come live with me I had to be approved to be a foster dad."

"So I'm a grandfather," Wilbur said.

"Well, not quite," Willy replied. Then he smiled. "He's a great boy, Dad. Good and kind, not a spoiled brat at all. Clever, too, and he's got a great imagination. I think he'll go far."

"You sound proud of him," Wilbur said.

"I am," Willy said. "Even though he's still learning, I can see that he has it in him to be great."

Wilbur smiled. "I understand how you feel, Willy. I'm proud of you and all you have accomplished."

"You are?" Willy asked, looking pleasantly surprised.

"Of course I am," Wilbur said. "You're my son, and you've done so much. How could I not be proud of you?"

"Thanks, Dad," Willy said, grinning.

"I just wish I could have told you sooner," Wilbur said.

Willy and his father continued to talk and get caught up in each other's lives. At one point, Willy was recounting a story of something that had happened involving Andreas and Wilbur suddenly grinned knowingly at him. "What?" Willy asked.

"Oh you don't fool me, William Wilbur Winston Wonka," Wilbur said, shaking his finger at Willy. "I can see that incipient parental gleam in your eye."

Willy stared at his father, shocked. "Me?" he asked. "A dad?"

"Of course," Wilbur said. "I think you'd make a great father."

* * *

Later on, when they were back in the factory, Willy got to thinking about what his father had said. He realized his dad had accurately seen his feelings for Andreas. He chuckled softly to himself. "How weird is that?" he asked himself. "I spend my life believing that having a family's a bad thing and then I start feeling like Andreas is family to me." He shook his head. "Weird."


	16. Chapter 16

Meanwhile, Andreas was in the Chocolate Room lying in a patch of swudge grass with a blade of it between his teeth. The oompa-loompa named Asher, who was actually one of Andreas's best friends among the oompa-loompas, was with him.

"...and I admit, I had been scared that Mom would take me away from here," Andreas finished his story. "I realized just how much I love it here. This really is my home, where I belong."

Asher grinned and began signing energetically. Andreas laughed and caught one of his friend's hands in his own. "Whoa, whoa! Slow down, Ash! I can't understand what you're signing when you go so fast." He let go of Asher's hand.

Asher's smile turned sheepish. He took a deep breath and shook out his arms before trying again. This time he went slower so Andreas, who was still learning the language of the tiny people, could keep up. 'We love having you here,' he signed. 'All of us.'

Andreas found himself saying something he hadn't thought before. Something he couldn't deny. "You guys are my family." He smiled. "Willy, too. He's like a father to me." He chuckled and added, "A very funny and childlike father, but still a father." Asher laughed and Andreas quickly joined in.

What neither of them knew was that Willy had come into the Chocolate Room and had heard Andreas tell Asher how he felt. Now Willy came out from his hiding place, grinning, and walked over to them.

Asher noticed Willy first. He tugged on the sleeve of Andreas's shirt and then pointed to where Willy stood. Andreas looked up. "Willy!" he said.

"Can I join you?" Willy asked.

"Sure," Andreas said with a grin.

Willy plopped down in the grass. "I heard what you just said about me, Andreas," Willy said. Andreas looked down, embarrassed at having Willy know what he'd said about him. "And I feel the same way about you," Willy continued. "I realized recently that you're like a son to me."

Andreas looked up. "You mean that?" he asked.

"Yeah," Willy grinned. "In fact, what would you say to my adopting you?"

Andreas's eyes widened, and he grinned back. "Yahoo!" he yelled, launching himself at Willy and knocking him over onto his back as he wrapped his arms around his neck in a hug.

"I take it this means yes," Willy replied with a laugh.

Andreas nodded and suddenly began to laugh because Willy had begun tickling him. Andreas tried to tickle Willy back, but wasn't able to because of Willy's multiple layers of clothing. He then tried to get away, and had a bit more luck. "Can't catch me, Dad!" he called as he ran off.

"Wanna bet?" Willy asked, getting up and picking up his hat which had fallen off when Andreas had knocked him over before taking off after the boy. They chased each other around the room until Willy managed to give Andreas the slip and then sneak up behind him. "Tag!" he shouted, touching the boy, "You're it!" Then he went running off with Andreas chasing him now.

After a few more minutes of chasing each other, Andreas flopped down, panting, in the grass. "Okay, okay," he said, smiling, "enough."

Willy sat down next to Andreas with a grin. "Truce?"

"Truce," Andreas agreed.

* * *

A few days later, Charlie came to visit and Andreas and Willy told him about how things had gone during their visits with their families. At the end of their stories, Charlie grinned. "I'm glad they went well for both of you. You two are lucky to be foster father and foster son."

Andreas and Willy looked at each other, grinned, and then Andreas turned back to Charlie. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Charlie," he said with a fake serious look on his face, "I'm not exactly Willy's foster child any more."

Charlie looked puzzled. "What do you mean?" he asked, feeling slightly worried.

"Well, as soon as the adoption papers come through," Andreas said, smiling again, "I'm going to be Willy's _real_ child!"

Charlie's eyes lit up. "That's great, Andreas!" he exclaimed.

"Thanks!" Andreas said.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: So here we are at the last chapter...**

* * *

Six months later, Andreas stood outside the entrance to the Chocolate Room with his brothers. All three were dressed in traditional Greek clothes: a white long sleeved shirt with wide sleeves, black belt, black vest, white kilt, white stockings, and red shoes. Andreas and Nomiki were bareheaded while Filippos wore a red beret. Andreas also noticed that the oompa-loompas, who had made all their clothes, had used the traditional cotton for his brothers' outfits but used satin for his.

"You boys look wonderful." the voice of their mother, Despoina, caused them to turn around. She, too, was dressed traditionally. She wore a long, sleeveless black dress with a scoop neck, revealing the white long sleeved shirt underneath. She also wore a long sleeved black jacket with gold embroidery around the sleeves, shoulders, and hem. A gold belt encircled her waist and a necklace of gold coins was around her neck. On her head she wore a yellow and black scarf. She also wore white stockings and black high heeled shoes.

"Mother," Nomiki said, "You're beautiful."

"Thank you," Despoina said, blushing slightly.

"Shall we?" Andreas asked, indicating the door. The other three nodded. Andreas unlocked and opened the Chocolate Room door.

Inside the room, they could see the oompa-loompas dressed in their traditional clothing sitting on the swudge grass in two groups, creating an aisle through which the four of them walked. Off to one side, Andreas saw Charlie, his family, and Willy's father. Andreas turned his attention forward and smiled at his adopting father, Willy Wonka, who smiled back at him. Willy was dressed in his usual outfit of plum red velvet coat, black top hat, black vest and pants, multicolored shirt, and purple latex gloves which were folded over the top of his cane. On Willy's left side was the chief of the oompa-loompas in a black suit and white shirt, who was standing on a raised pillar and would lead the ceremony. Andreas, his brothers, and his mother went to the left side of the oompa-loompa and stood in a row. Wilbur walked over and took his place on Willy's right side. The oompa-loompa smiled and the ceremony began.

"You have gathered here today in a moment of union and transition in the life of this child," the oompa-loompa began, "whom you all love, and whose life will always be entwined with all of yours. Today, you mark the entrustment of this child by his birth mother, Despoina, and his birth siblings, Nomiki and Filippos, to Willy Wonka, to be his father, and Wilber Wonka to be his grandfather. A proverb of our people says that 'It is children that make relations.' This proverb certainly holds true for all of you here, for this child's birth and adoption link together your once-separate families. It also breaks years of estrangement from the biological families for both Willy and Andreas and makes a chance to forge new and stronger ties. May it be so."

"It will be so," Willy, Wilbur, Andreas, Nomiki, Filippos, and Despoina all said.

"Despoina Kostakis," the oompa-loompa continued, "You had to make a great and difficult decision once in your life for the survival of your family. Here and now you do so again, this time for the happiness of your son, Andreas. In your desire to do your best for your family, you built a bridge for Andreas into a life with his new and forever father. By his birth and life, and by the decisions you have made, you will always be linked to one another and to Andreas. Willy, in having taken Andreas in as your foster child and heir and then deciding to adopt him, you are linked to them." The oompa-loompa then turned to Andreas and his family. "Despoina, Nomiki, and Filippos Kostakis, do you here and forever entrust Andreas to this family?"

"We do," they answered.

The oompa-loompa then turned to Willy and his father. "And Willy and Wilbur Wonka, do you here and forever embrace Andreas, who will be known from now on as Andrew, into your family, to love and care for him, always and forever?"

"We do," they answered.

"Just as many streams - known and unknown, small and large - contribute to a river's strength and course," the oompa-loompa continued, "so too the course of this life to come will be shaped, in part, by its many tributaries. Andreas is a birth child; he is an adopted child. He is the son of Despoina Kostakis, and of Willy Wonka. He is little brother to Filippos Kostakis, big brother to Nomiki Kostakis, and grandson to Wilbur Wonka."

"Andreas," Despoina said, touching her son's shoulder, "I have something for you." She pulled out a round golden ring, filled inside with swirls hung on a gold chain. A Circle of Life, which was a symbol of luck in Greek culture. This she put around Andreas' neck. "I wish you happiness and luck in your life, my son," she said. She hugged him. "I love you, and will always love you. Even when I had to put you into foster care, I loved you."

"I love you too, Mother," Andreas said, pulling away. "Even when I thought you didn't love me because you had abandoned me, I loved you. I always will."

"Andreas Kostakis," the oompa-loompa said, holding out one hand, "It is now time for you to come forward, join your new family, and receive your new name: Andrew Wonka."

Andreas walked forwards, his mother's hand on his shoulder until she could no longer reach him. He saw Willy reach out one arm and, as he walked closer, Willy put his arm around his shoulders. "Welcome to the family, son," Willy said, giving Andreas' shoulders a squeeze.

"Thanks, Dad," Andreas replied, smiling up at him.

"I promise that I will love you as much as your birth family does," Willy said, his voice carrying. "In fact...I already do! That is why I decided to adopt you in the first place. I, too, have a gift for you." With that, he turned and gave the oompa-loompa call. One of the oompa-loompas in the audience came forwards, carrying a dark blue package. Willy picked it up and let it unfold itself, showing it to be a coat in the same style as his own except smaller. Willy then draped it about Andreas' shoulders. Andreas grinned and put his arms through the sleeves. Willy then waved Despoina, Filippos, and Nomiki forward, pulling something out of the pocket of his coat. "Andrew and I want you to be able to visit us whenever you can," he said. "These are keys to the side gate of the factory. You have earned them. Use them well."

"And you," Despoina said, tucking her key into a pocket of her dress, "I hope the two of you will come and visit us whenever you can, too."

"Willy, Wilbur, Andrew, Despoina, Filippos, and Nomiki," the oompa-loompa said, finishing the ceremony, "May you go forth in peace and comfort, and remember always this day of union." With that, he climbed down off the stand, signaling the end of the ceremony.

Charlie jumped up and raced over to his friend, tackling him in a joyous hug as music suddenly struck up.

"What are the oompa-loompas doing?" Despoina voiced what almost everyone was wondering.

Willy smiled. "They're going to give us a little song. I'm not surprised they decided to sing today. It is a special occasion, after all."

"When we first met Andreas,  
We didn't know  
Just how much our love for him,  
Would grow.

"He became our friend  
On that we could depend  
Our joy became whole  
When he settled into his role

"We saw Willy's pride in him  
And the parental gleam  
Grow day by day  
One day to fulfill Andreas' biggest dream

"We watched as he struggled and fought  
With inner demons, which were brought  
To light because of a letter  
But now they're gone, and things are better

"And so today, to Andrew we say,  
In our own special way  
Welcome to the family!"

Andreas smiled at the end of the song as the oompa-loompas gathered around, cheering. "Thanks guys," he said.


End file.
